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Biomedical subjects

J Kernahan

Publications and source records attributed to J Kernahan.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Memory after treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Long term survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) often experience cognitive difficulties, which may be related to impairment of memory function. Memory ability has been studied in a group of survivors of ALL along with sibling controls and in children who have received treatment for other forms of cancer. Children in the ALL group were found to have significant deficits in memory function in tasks which required the application of strategic planning behaviour. These deficits are potentially remediable by educational strategies.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Dental caries and dental anomalies in children treated by chemotherapy for malignant disease: a study in the north of England.

Fifty-two children in remission from childhood cancer and 41 siblings underwent a full clinical and radiographic dental examination. All the children had received chemotherapy. The leukaemic patients had received radiotherapy also, but not involving the jaws. There was no significant difference in dental caries experience between the treated children and the siblings, but significantly more dental anomalies were detected radiographically in the treated group.

Abnormalities, Drug-Induced↗
PubMed1991

Cognitive function after two doses of cranial irradiation for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

The cognitive function of 23 children given cranial irradiation in a dose of 24 Gy was compared with that of 41 given 18 Gy. No significant differences were found in intellectual function or in mean number of intelligence quotient points lost between patients in the two treatment groups. A reduction in the dose of cranial irradiation does not seem to alleviate long term neuropsychological deficits.

Child, Preschool↗
PubMed1990

Local antibody production and respiratory syncytial virus infection in children with leukaemia.

Children undergoing therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) are at increased risk of severe viral respiratory infection, and some find it difficult to terminate virus secretion. This increased severity may result from a defect in the mucosal immune response. To test this hypothesis, nasal immunoglobulin secretion and specific antiviral antibody responses to infection with respiratory syncytial (RS) virus in children with ALL have been compared with those in a normal age-matched comparison group. Children with leukaemia secreted normal levels of IgA and slightly raised IgM levels. IgG levels were depressed. Following RS virus infection, the majority of children with leukaemia secreted normal amounts of IgA and IgG nasal antibody and successfully cleared the virus. However, three of the 13 children studied made poor or undetectable nasal antibody responses, which correlated with their inability to clear the virus.

Antibodies, Viral↗
PubMed1990

Gonadal function after 12-Gy testicular irradiation in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

Gonadal function was assessed in 15 boys with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) who had received testicular irradiation. The dose to the testes was 12 Gy in 12, 15 Gy in 1, and 24 Gy in 2 cases. All of those who had received 12 or 15 Gy had normal Leydig cell function, although high levels of gonadotropins suggest subclinical Leydig cell damage. The 2 who had 24 Gy had Leydig cell failure. All who were old enough to produce a semen specimen were azoospermic.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Virus infections in bone marrow transplant recipients: a three year prospective study.

Over three years 81 consecutive bone marrow transplant recipients (32 allogeneic and 49 autologous) who received prophylaxis with acyclovir, were studied for symptomatic virus infection. Thirty nine infections were documented in a total of 28 patients. Thirty two infections were mild, five were moderately severe, and two were severe. Cytomegalovirus infection occurred in only six allogeneic recipients. Herpes simplex virus and varicella zoster virus infections occurred infrequently. Seven patients who were considered at the time of death to have died due to an infectious cause were studied virologically at necropsy. In only one patient was a virus infection thought to have been the cause of death. Prophylaxis with acyclovir may have influenced the rate and clinical prominence of herpes virus infections. In this study viruses were considered to have had a relatively minor role in causing morbidity and mortality.

Acyclovir↗
PubMed1988

Translocation t (8;21) associated with marked granulocytic hyperplasia.

A 16-year-old boy with leukemia had a marked leucocytosis (165 x 10(9)/L) at presentation. The large number of neutrophils, myelocytes, and metamyelocytes and negative leucocyte alkaline phosphatase reaction raised the possibility of chronic myeloid leukemia. Cytogenetic analysis showed a deletion of chromosome 7, a t (8;21), a missing Y chromosome, and, in some cells, duplication of the der(21). The Philadelphia chromosome was not detected, nor was the breakpoint cluster region of chromosome 22 found to be rearranged. Myeloid leukemia with t (8;21) can therefore be associated with a greater degree of granulocytic hyperplasia than has so far been apparent, and cytogenetic analysis in this case has been crucial in distinguishing leukemia types.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Myeloproliferative disease in children: a demographic study.

Over eight years, eight cases of childhood myeloproliferative disease were recognised in the northern region of England (population 3.1 million). Five were classic chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) and the three others, forms of myeloproliferative disease. No case of juvenile CML was recognised. With the exception of CML, "adult" type myeloproliferative disease of children is underrepresented in the literature and its natural history remains unknown.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

The long-term effects of treatment on the dental condition of children surviving malignant disease.

Fifty-two long-term survivors of childhood leukemia or solid tumors had a clinical dental examination along with 49 of their sibling. The 52, with an additional 30 examined in a previous study, were studied radiologically with a panoramic tomogram. All children with leukemia had received chemotherapy for 2 or 3 years and irradiation on standard protocols and the solid tumor group had received chemotherapy for 6 to 24 months. There was no difference between siblings and patients for dental caries, gingivitis, and oral hygiene, mouth opening, overjet, and overbite. More solid-tumor patients had abnormal occlusion (P less than 0.02) and those with abnormalities tended to have been treated at an earlier age. Enamel opacities and hypoplasia were more common in patients than siblings and in the leukemia than in the solid tumor group. Sixty-five percent of the children had abnormalities on radiologic examination including failure of the tooth to develop, small crown, hypoplasia of the crown, and abnormal root development. In most cases the radiologic abnormality could be correlated in time with the patient's treatment and a knowledge of the normal time of tooth development. Three teeth extracted during the course of the study were examined histologically and these showed prominent incremental lines which could be correlated in time with vincristine treatment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1987

Measles in children who have malignant disease.

A review study examined the clinical course of measles diagnosed in children being treated for malignant disease in Newcastle upon Tyne during 1973-86. Of the 17 cases diagnosed, five were fatal. Factors associated with a favourable outcome were a typical rash and Koplik's spots, which were accompanied by a detectable serum antibody response and the disappearance of measles giant cells from nasopharyngeal secretions. Pneumonitis severe enough to require assisted ventilation was invariably fatal. Pneumonitis and encephalitis were the main complications. Treatment included immunoglobulin, interferon, and ribavirin, but none could clearly be shown to be effective. The comparatively low mortality in this series may have been due to the extensive use of the fluorescent antibody technique in Newcastle during the study period and therefore detection of less severe cases as compared with other reports.

Child↗
PubMed1987

Virus infections in childhood malignant disease.

The viruses isolated during infective episodes over a 5-year period of 93 children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and 107 children with other malignancies have been studied. Viruses were identified by the fluorescent antibody technique (FAT), electron microscopy, and culture. Viruses were isolated on 204 occasions. Rhinovirus and RSV occurred significantly more often in the patients with ALL, and adenovirus more commonly in the solid tumor patients. Viruses were responsible for 4 of the 69 deaths. Multiple different virus isolation during the same infective episode was significantly more common than in a control group. Where paired sera were available, only 10 out of 27 children showed at least a fourfold rise to the isolated virus. A rise in complement-fixing antibody is confirmed as a very unreliable method of detecting virus infection in immunosuppressed children. Viruses are important pathogens in children with cancer and assume greater relevance now that over 60% of malignant disease in childhood can be cured.

Child↗
PubMed1986

Interferon responses of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from normal and leukaemic children.

Human peripheral blood mononuclear cell cultures (PBMC) stimulated with Sendai virus or K562 cells produce a mixture of interferons. Temperature and pH stability characteristics and reactions with monospecific antibodies indicate that PBMC cultures from adults produce interferons alpha and gamma in approximately equal proportions. PBMC cultures from children produce lower levels of interferons with a higher proportion of type alpha. The ability of PBMC cultures from children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) to produce interferon was determined. Little or no gamma interferon was induced by either Sendai virus or K562 cells. Cultures from some children with ALL produced alpha interferon but mean levels were significantly lower than from normal children. A group of older children with ALL who had completed their course of therapy and were off treatment produced levels of interferon indistinguishable from those of normal children. This in vitro deficit, possibly induced by chemotherapy, may reflect an in vivo deficit and may contribute to the impaired handling of viruses seen in children being treated for ALL.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1986

Intellect after malignancy.

A previous study has shown that significant intellectual deficits exist in children treated for leukaemia but not in those with solid tumours. Unexpectedly, the deficits had not increased in the two years since the original study, suggesting that the nadir had already been reached five years after diagnosis.

Child↗
PubMed1985

Natural killer cell activity in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in remission.

Fifteen children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in remission receiving maintenance chemotherapy and 12 ALL patients off treatment and in remission were tested for natural killer (NK) cell activity in vitro. Compared with a control population the children with ALL receiving maintenance chemotherapy had low levels of NK cell activity. This effect was not due to a specific reduction in NK cell numbers since proportions of mononuclear cells detected by the monoclonal antibodies HNK-1 (Leu-7) and Leu-11a were normal. Furthermore NK cell activity in patients could only be partially increased by pre-incubation of effector cells with interferon (alpha IFN). These studies confirm the lack of NK cell activity in children with ALL and show that this phenomenon is directly related to functional NK cell impairment. Our study has further shown that this effect is transient since ALL patients off treatment and in remission showed normal levels and augmentation of NK cell activity.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1985

Nasal interferon responses in leukaemia.

Nasal concentrations of leucocyte interferon measured immunoradiometrically were appreciably higher in children infected with influenza viruses than those infected with paramyxoviruses. Regardless of the infecting virus, leukaemic children produced normal amounts of interferon, but this appeared to have little effect on the duration of excretion of virus.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1984

Dental health of survivors of malignant disease.

A full dental examination on 64 children aged from 3 to 20 years who were in long term remission from malignant disease showed normal facial growth, caries incidence, and periodontal indices. There was increased incidence of hypodontia and hypoplasia which in some could be ascribed to the original disease or its treatment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1983

Intellectual function after treatment for leukaemia or solid tumours.

Twenty three children who had been treated for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) were evaluated intellectually using the British Ability Scales. Their treatment included early cranial irradiation, intrathecal chemotherapy, and systemic chemotherapy. Nineteen children who had been treated for various types of solid tumours (ST), had undergone related chemotherapy, and had received irradiation to sites of the body other than the cranium were used as controls. In addition, patients' siblings were assessed and their scores statistically corrected to produce a best estimate of the patients' pre-morbid degree of intellectual functioning. The results showed intellectual deficits after treatment in both patient groups, but these were consistently larger in the ALL group, particularly for the higher functions of intelligence. Intellectual deficit in ALL patients did not show immediately after radiotherapy but became progressively more apparent some time afterwards and particularly in younger children. In contrast, in the ST group, intellectual deficits seemed to diminish over time, and the age at radiotherapy was not a critical factor.

Adolescent↗